Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker in Europe. Background The company was originally formed in 1810 by the Peugeot family as a coffee mill equipmment in Sochaux, France. In 1830, the company moved in the production of bicycles, including an 1882 penny-farthing. In 1882 the company moved into the manufacture of cars, producing a three-wheeled steam-powered car, the Peugeot 1, in 1886. Over the following decade, Peugeot added more "superminis", numbered the Peugeot "2" through "8". In 1894, Peugeot released their first closed-top "family car", the type 9. This was soon followed by the similar types 10, 11 and 12. Between 1890 and the early 1900s, Peugeot released a series of open-top and closed-top family cars, numbered consecutively from 1 to 190, named in order of design date and not in order of car type. In the late 1920s this changed, as the 201, a small saloon car, was named according to the size of the car. The nomenclature of the Peugeot brand changed from being purely ordinal, to being representative of the car. Names beginning in 20x (i.e. 201, 202, etc) were reserved for small cars, 30x for mid range cars, 40x for larger family cars, and so on, a naming system that continues to this day. Peugeot released their first modern supermini, the 104, in 1972. It ran simultaneously with the small 204, mid-sized 304, large 404 and 504, and executive 604. In the 1990s, Peugeot moved into the minivan and commercial vehicles market, with the 806 and "Expert" respectively, and the leisure vehicle market with the "Partner". Currently Peugeot's road car range includes the 107, 207, 206+, 308, 408, 508, Bipper and Partner, 3008, 5008, 807, 4007 and Expert. Peugeot in motorsport In 1981, Peugeot created the brand "Peugeot Sport" as a marque for all of Peugeot's endeavours into motorsport. Rallying Peugeot Sport began its life as rallying team "Peugeot Talbot Sport" after team Talbot for whom its creator, Jean Todt, was a WRC co-driver. The team made its debut in 1984 with the production of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, a modified version of the road-going Peugeot 205. The car took its first victory in the 1985 rally of Finland, before going on to win a further 56 rounds out of twelve, giving Peugeot the manufacturers' title. Further success was soon to follow, with a second succesive title the year after. In 1987, due to the FIA having banned Group B cars fromt the WRC following a fatal accident, Peugeot switched their focus to cross-country "rally raid". from 1987 to 1989, Peugeot Sport's modified 205 won three consecutive Dakar Rallies, and then to win a fourth in 1990 driving a Peugeot 405 T16 GR. Sportscars Peugeot Talbot Sport established their new sportcar team in 1988 with the 905 project, to develop a sportscar to begin competing in the 1991 season. The project ran for three years and was very successful, winning the 1991 and 1992 World Sportscar Championship and the 1992 and 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans, the latter with a 1-2-3 finish. Peugeot Talbot Sport's affiliation with sportscars ended after the 1993 season with founder, Jean Todt, leaving to join Scuderia Ferrari. Formula One After their withdrawal from sportscars, Peugeot moved into Formula One, providing the 3.5L V10 engine, from the 905, to the McLaren racing team in 1994. Unfortunately their success did not follow them to F1, as the McLaren Peugeot team finished a disappointing 4th in the 1994 Constructors' World Championship. McLaren dropped their partnership with Peugeot after just one year. From 1995 to 1997 Peugeot supplied their engines to Jordan Grand Prix, acheiving five podium finishes and a 5th place finish in the 1997 Constructors' World Championship. Jordan and Peugeot parted company for the 1998 season, with Jordan signing with Honda and Peugeot signing up to supply the new Prost team. Peugeot's time with Prost lasted from 1998 to 2000. During this time Prost-Peugeot acheived one podium finish (2nd place for Jarno Trulli and the Nürburgring (European GP)) and a total of 10 World Championship Points. Peugeot engines were subsequently used by the Arrows team in 2001, and the Minardi team in 2002, branded under the name of Asiatech. The Paris based company had purchased the 2000 Season Peugeot engines at the beginning of the 2001 season. Peugeot Sport Formula One Results *Races contested: 115 *Race wins: none *Podium finishes: 13 (highest finish 2nd) *World Chapionship Points: 128 *Highest Championship finish (Constructors): 4th (1994) Return to Rallying In 1999, Peugeot Sportmade its return to the WRC with the Peugeot 206 WRC, achieving victories in Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, and Australia in their second season, leading to their winning the 2000 World Championship. Peugeot also won six rallies in 2001, eight more in 2002, and won the Manufacturers' championship in both years. 2003 saw more rally victories, but the team lost out to Citroën in the Manufacturers' championship. 2004 saw the release of a new car, the 307 WRC, but were unable to return to victory in either the 2004, 2005 or 2007 seasons (They did not compete in 2006). The team then withdrew from the WRC. After withdrawing from the WRC, Peugeot instead entered the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), using the new Peugeot 207 S2000. The team won the IRC drivers' titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Return to Sportscars In 2007, Peugeot looked to break the dominance of Audi in Sportscar cahmpionships. In order to do this, they created the 908 HDi FAP, making its debut with victory at the 2007 1000 km of Monza. That year also saw a 2nd place finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind Audi and overall victory in the 2007 Le Mans Series. Peugeot entered three cars into the 2008 Le Mans Event, finishing second, third and fifth, again behind Audi. At the 2009 event, David Brabham, Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz delivered Peugeot's first Le Mans victory since 1993. They did not contest the Le Mans Series, instead using the event at Spa as their sole preparation for Le Mans. Peugeot achieved a 1-2 finish at the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring. Peugeot Sport Major Achievements *Le Mans 24 Hours: 1992, 1993, 2009 *Le Mans Series: 2007 *World Rally Championship: 1985, 1986, 2000, 2001, 2002 *Intercontinental Rally Challenge: 2007, 2008, 2009 *Dakar Rally: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 Peugeot in Gran Turismo Peugeot are well represented in Gran Turismo, appearing in all mainline versions since GT2. List of Cars All cars will be listed here